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couchslug (175151) writes "The changes to Slashdot making it a general news site make sense from a profit POV, but it's no longer "News for Nerds" and very little "Stuff That Matters".Where should the original audience Slashdot no longer caters to or needs go to get what they once got from Slashdot?"

couchslug (175151) writes "President Obama will end NASA’s return mission to the moon and turn to private companies to launch astronauts into space when he unveils his budget request to Congress next week, an administration official said Thursday.The shift would “put NASA on a more sustainable and ambitious path to the future,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. But the changes have angered some members of Congress, particularly from Texas, the location of the Johnson Space Center, and Florida, the location of the Kennedy Space Center.“My biggest fear is that this amounts to a slow death of our nation’s human space flight program,” Representative Bill Posey, Republican of Florida, said in a statement."Link to Original Source

couchslug (175151) writes "http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterpriseapps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219200383
A Judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling its popular Word document creation application in the United States in 60 days, after finding that the software contains technology that violates a patent held by a third party.
Judge Leonard Davis, of U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas, said Microsoft "unlawfully infringed" on a patent that describes how programs go about "manipulating a document's content and architecture separately." The patent, No. 5,787,449, is held by Toronto-based i4i, Inc. i4i develops "collaborative content solutions," according to its Web site. i4i originally sued Microsoft for patent infringement in 2007.
"We are disappointed by the court's ruling," Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz said in an e-mail. "We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict.""

couchslug (175151) writes "In an attempt to block FOIA access to possibly compromising emails, Sumter County, SC attorney Jonathan Bryan is contending that electronic mail not printed out is not a "document".
""In my opinion, e-mail is a series of the numerals '1' and '0' in electronic format. I will acknowledge that once e-mail is printed on paper, then it becomes a document and potentially a public record," Bryan wrote. "However, I am not willing to concede that electronic media which require a computer and certain software in order to be deciphered constitutes a document."
The squabble is over the medical costs of a bank robber shot by police (Sumter has the fifth highest metro area crime rate in the country) with the county suing the city over his medical costs.
http://www.theitem.com/article/20090320/ITNEWS01/703209929"

couchslug (175151) writes ""LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Federal agents and police in seven states arrested more than 60 members of the Mongols motorcycle gang on Tuesday in a sweep that also targeted for the first time an outlaw group's "intellectual property," prosecutors said.
The arrests cap a three-year undercover investigation in which U.S. agents posed as gang members and their girlfriends to infiltrate the group, even submitting to polygraph tests administered by the bikers.
Those arrested were charged in an 86-count federal racketeering indictment accusing the California-based gang of engaging in criminal acts ranging from murder and robbery to extortion, money laundering, gun trafficking and drug dealing.
The Mongols are particularly associated with violent attacks on blacks and have engaged in an escalating battle with the rival Hells Angels gang since clashing in a 2002 casino riot in Laughlin, Nevada, prosecutors said.
The gang also has been feuding with Mexican-based organized crime figures over the Mongols' drug trafficking in areas controlled by the Mexican mob, according to authorities.
"In addition to pursuing the criminal charges set forth in the indictment, for the first time ever, we are seeking to forfeit the intellectual property of the gang," U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien said in a statement.
He said the name "Mongols," which appears on the gang's arm patch insignia, was trademarked by the group. The indictment seeks a court order outlawing further use of the name, which would allow any police officer "who sees a Mongol wearing this patch... to stop that gang member and literally take the jacket right off his back," O'Brien added.""Link to Original Source

couchslug (175151) writes "I went looking for drivers for a friend and found this proof that Microsoft can make use of older Windows versions more difficult."
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01080344&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=59270&lang=en
"As of July 2007, HP will no longer be able to offer driver downloads or replacement driver CD ordering for Windows 98, 98 Second Edition (SE), or Windows Millennium (Me) for your HP printer, all-in-one, camera, or scanner. Microsoft has stopped providing and supporting certain files related specifically to Windows 98 SE, and this change affects all technology companies. HP, along with other technology companies, is no longer able to use selected components in support of Windows 98SE, which has an impact on our software strategy for Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows Me. HP will continue to provide other selected HP software and applications that do not depend on Windows 98 SE components for the foreseeable future.""